2016 Ottawa, Ontario "Fly-In"

We had an incredibly successful trip to Ottawa, Ontario, for our Canadian Capital fly-in! We even had a late winter snowstorm which was fun for us Texans. (see photos below)

Our dear friend, and always gracious Ottawa host, Colin Robertson provided a terrific summary of our Ottawa trip and many of the recommendations that came from our meetings. Please see here.

In summary, the trip consisted of important meetings centered around North American trade, supply chain, and energy dialogue. We met with the new Mexican Ambassador to Canada, Agustin Garcia-Lopez Loaeza, U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Bruce Heyman hosted our annual North American roundtable for Ottawa federal agencies, we met with Bob Carberry of the Regulatory Cooperation Council, had an in-depth meeting with Global Affairs Canada team, met with the Ministry of Natural Resources (Jim Carr from Manitoba), and Colin Robertson/Business Council of Canada hosted our group for a meet and greet with several leading Canadian associations. (Trucking Alliance, Railway Association, Agrifood Trade Alliance, Federation of Independent Business, Chamber of Marine Commerce, etc.)

The timing could not have been better. The next North American Leaders Summit (NALS) with Obama, Pena Nieto, and Trudeau, is slated to be held in late June in Ottawa. Several of the planned discussions for the NALS will be very closely related to, if not directly related to, NASCO focus areas. We have been asked by multiple government agencies responsible for the development of the agenda of the NALS to provide input and ideas to them to help inform the discussions of the leaders – and to help them draft the agenda for the meeting.